Basketball season in Oregon is well underway now, with most teams about halfway through their league schedules.

Last Friday night I headed back to Lincoln High School, the team I documented two years ago, as the girls’ took on the Schimmels and the rest of the Franklin Quakers.

Most of the girls from the 2008 team are gone now for one reason or another—mostly due to graduation, transfer or, in one case, both. But Jennie Archambault and Mackenzie Lamson are still there, as are a few of the girls from the 2008 J.V. and Freshman teams.

The 2010 Lady Cardinals are a team on the rise. They probably won’t go far in the playoffs this year, but with a crop of 13 sophomores spread between the varsity and J.V. teams they should be in good shape in 2011 and 2012. When you add freshman Jade Cheldelin, who is already playing varsity ball, Head Coach Jeff Peeler knows it will be hard to distribute playing time over the next couple of years.

Lincoln sophomore Emily Sheldon drives with confidence around two Franklin players Jan. 15 in the Cardinals' 52-43 loss.

For now, at least, sophomore Emily Sheldon (right) appears to be leading the way in that bumper crop of young players. I didn’t get a look at the score book after the game, but Sheldon started for the Cardinals and played a lot of minutes against a tough opponent.

Friday night’s game was considerably closer than I had expected, considering Lincoln’s relative youth and the fact that their opponent included one of the top girls basketball prospects in the nation, and a couple of other gifted players.

The Cardinals stayed close for much of the game, and even took the lead for a few minutes in the third quarter.

They were only down by one after three periods, and had a real chance to win the game if until a sloppy three-minute stretch in the fourth.

In the end Franklin prevailed 52-43*.

*Other sites are reporting the final score as 51-43. That’s not what the scoreboard read at the end of the game.